What I said was just a chance to get in my usual jabs about how I consider all of the criticisms lobbed at the newer episodes to be equally applicable to the early movies.
FWIW, I really don’t understand people’s complaints with Lucas altering the early movies, as long as the originals are still able to be accessed. However, it looks like Lucas isn’t exactly making that possible. People should be able to see an original version of a film, if for no other reason than posterity.
But even THAT, I have a hard time getting fired up about.
Trunk, At the heart of things the fact that Lucas is trying to make sure that we can’t get our hands on copies of the movies as originally released is my main beef. In fact, I have often fantasized about starting a video/DVD business that specialized in nothing but movies as they were originally experienced in theaters. To me there is a value to that.
Star Wars is especially troubling for me because I was at the precise right age for it to make a huge impression. In fairness, it was really the first two that seemed to take themselves seriously. By the time Lucas fell into the Ewok trap, he was just pandering to what he though kids liked, rather than producing sincere work.
Well, applicable to the first and third movies, perhaps. Empire is still corny in an old-Hollywood (i.e., not necessarily bad) way, but it also has some terrific wit and a powerful elegiac tone that goes some way toward justifying all the “Star Wars as modern myth” jibber-jabber that Lucas’ acolytes always throw around.
What keeps the first movie watchable for me is its lack of irony, how it serves up cliché upon cliché with total sincerity. Plus it’s got Harrison Ford, who looks like he’s having the time of his life.
Jedi? Well, Jedi just sucked. I agree that every critique of Eps I and II could be applied to Ep VI, and it’s hypocritical of fans to lambaste the prequels while hailing Jedi as a satisfying, accomplished film (and no, it’s not just the Ewoks that make it a lousy movie).
Upon watching the original (non-SE) version of Jedi recently, I’ve found that I actually like it a lot except for the Ewoks and the whole ending.
Granted, that leaves me with, like, Jabba’s palace as far as things to like goes, but that’s one more thing than I liked about Episode 1.
It’s not even just that he’s not making the originals available (although that’s incredibly stupid and frustrating in itself), it’s that he’s kind of being a dick about the whole thing with his whole “These are the definitive versions of these movies, now! They are the only versions that exist or matter!” schtick, especially when so many people think his changes suck.
If he’d just done the sensible thing and release DVDs of the originals along with his remastered editions, you wouldn’t hear nearly so much griping, I don’t think.
Funny you should use that word. I have the big-ass 9-disc laserdisc collection CORRECTLY named The Definitive Collection. As far as I’m concerned, the title is true. Apparently Lucas is using the word now in a context I was previously unaware of.
There is a sticker on the shrink wrap of the DVDs which says the box contains ‘all three classic films’. Yet I watch Star Wars and it is called A New Hope, and I see Greedo shoot first and I see Han talking to Jaba with Boba Fett in the background. I guess that the term classic is more fluid than I originally thought.
I’d like the original version of the original trilogy to be made available too, but I think you’d have to be pretty hard-headed about the changes to resist buying the set. (I don’t know about you, but my VHS original version set isn’t holding up very well at all; it likely won’t sustain many more viewings.) Also, the disc 4 extras are pretty nifty. (I would’ve liked to see more of the actors’ screen tests, although there was a bit of that footage in the 2-hr. documentary.) The sneak peek bit on Ep. III was tantalizing, though, wasn’t it? Hayden Christensen’s put on a bit of muscle-weight (in a good way; Lucas wanted him to grow more into the role of the adult Annakin S./Darth Vader) and sports a more natural 'do – a very appealing '70’s-style shag! This could almost be the basis for a game: what '70’s pop or rock star does Hayden’s Ep. III hair most resemble?
One change no one’s commented on yet: Lucas & co. changed the music in the final Ewoks scene at the end of ROTJ, to a rather loud, obtrusive pan-pipe theme (not by John Williams) that drowns out most of the diegetic sounds. Even though the original Ewok song was cringe-worthy, I’m not sure the change marks an improvement: up 'til now, all the non-diegetic***** soundtrack music was the London Symphony Orchestra soundtrack by John Williams, in a classic Hollywood style of big symphonic scores. The music at the end of ROTJ is more typical of a New Age/World Music Muzak[tm] tape, if you catch my drift.
I liked the “whole galaxy celebrating” CGI montage tacked on at the end of ROTJ, though; it reinforces the importance and finality of the destruction of the incompleted Death Star and establishes a continuity with those worlds from the prequel trilogy.
As for Hayden’s face imposed on the spirit of Annakin Skywalker, it’s good for continuity, but he’s obviously younger looking than his scarred, battle-tested son. Not an error (Annakin becomes Darth Vader at a very young age), but a bit odd, nevertheless.
I haven’t noticed any green-screen problems per se yet.
*****Non-diegetic: that is, imposed on the picture instead of being generated from within the scene. (This is the basic soundtrack structure that Mel Brooks made fun of in Blazing Saddles when the Count Basie jazz band is first heard in non-diegetic style, and then slowly panned to, plunked down in the middle of nowhere in the western desert.) OTOH, a couple examples of non-classical diegetic music in the original trilogy would be the Cantina music in SW and the musical number in Jabba’s cave in ROTJ.
It’s not too difficult to make your own from the laserdiscs. Although it isn’t as high a quality as these new DVDs. I’m debating whether the extras are worth it. I will almost certainly outlive him and see the original films released. Tough call.
I wonder how much longer till the great Star Wars trek? Maybe when he declares the full screen version the final version?
I’m not buying it. I want the originals on DVD, and the best way to get those it to makes sure the SEs aren’t profitable. Obviously, Lucas is going to make a bundle on this DVD set, wether I buy it or not, but I still want to do what I can to hasten the release of the real Star Wars trilogy, insignificant as my efforts may be.
Besides, I’m still convinced George is New Coking us, and is releasing all these damned Special Eds to drive up anticipation for a release of the original set. Buying this set would ultimatly be a waste of money, because when the originals come out, I’d never, ever watch the these ones again. So, I’m waiting. I can do that; I’m a patient man.
(Which isn’t going to stop me from going out to my friend’s cabin in the woods of Lucas Valley this Saturday for a Star Wars Trilogy marathon on his projection TV with the surround sound cranked way up. But he ain’t charging me for the priviledge.)
It looks like I’m wrong about the pan flute theme being from somebody other than Williams. Late last night, I fast-forwarded to the end of the credits, to the “Special Edition” credits to check on this detail. There was a “Jerry Hey” credited for the “Jedi Rocks” music. Only, I’d forgotten then about the funky cabaret number in Jabba’s lair (that’s “Jedi Rocks,” replete with dancers), and thus confused the cabaret number with the flute theme. I just went back through the credits to get the name, and only now realized my mistake.
My other point (and chief misgiving) about that theme still stands, though, in that it’s non-diagetic music, but not in the tradition of classic old-Hollywood symphonic music that makes up the rest of the non-diagetic soundtracks of the original trilogy. Ergo, it is a break in stylistic continuity. If they want to go with a hippy-dippy Peruvian-lite theme (sounding like something you might hear played over the P.A. near the hot tubs at a cheesy Caribbean resort), then, fine, but make it look more grounded in the scene, like the Ewoks are responsible for it… Check out Scene 49. The music actually starts during the “galactic montage” sequence, when all the galaxy is celebrating; when the sequence returns to the festivities on Endor, you can see that the dancing and hand-clapping isn’t really in sync with the theme. (Granted, that kind of rhythmic continuity can be difficult to accomplish in a shoot involving so many actors and extras, let alone including kids in fur suits, but still. Sometimes you just want to geek out and get nitpicky…)
On one hand, I like the Galaxy Celebration thing at the end of ROTJ SE, because it’s more majestic than the Ewok song from the regular edition. On the other hand, the whole galaxy celebrating seems odd to me in light of the fact that in post-movie novels and stuff, the Empire is around for, well, a long time after ROTJ, and a galaxy-wide celebration at that point seems unlikely. And just to clarify, I’m not suggesting that’s a fault of the ending, or that the changes in the SEs should take the EU into account, it’s just something that detracts from my personal enjoyment of the scene.
